Team Brady Battles Through Challenges to Hold onto Championship Lead in Lagos
Team Brady fought through mechanical and electrical failures, difficult conditions and limited on-water time to deliver a solid P4 in Lagos. As E1 raced in Africa for the first time, the team showed strong underlying speed throughout the weekend and, despite setbacks, still extended its lead in the championship heading to Miami.
After a strong shakedown and practice, the team went into qualifying feeling fast and confident, but a mechanical failure early in Emma’s session brought her running to a dramatic end and left the crew facing a full rear-end and gearbox change mid-session. An incredible team effort saw Sam back on the water before the end of time trials, but despite this, he narrowly missed the chance to set a time, putting the team at the back of the field.
An outstanding win from Emma in the qualifying race that followed put the team P6 and in a good position for Sunday’s group races,which were curtailed due to storm delays. Calibration issues with the throttle almost prevented Sam making the first group race and after being squeezed at the start, he came out of the first corner in last place. The team were onthe back foot once more, but Sam delivered one of his best E1 race performances, going from last to first, sending the team straight into the final and showing the underlying pace of the boat.
Emma took the lead at the start of her final and dominated from there, finishing with a massive gap to P2 so the team went into the final on pole, feeling confident. Sam was looking strong in P2 but the pace in the boat disappeared after the first few laps of the final, meaning P4 was all the team could do. A consistent result leaves the team heading to Miami with a three point lead at the top in a tight fight for the Championship.
Emma Kimiläinen, Team Brady Pilot said, “This weekend was a roller coaster of emotions. Yesterday was really tough because of the mechanical issues and being last inthe time trials, but I was pleased to win the quali race and put us in P6 for today. Sam did amazingly well to win the group stage race so we knew we had the pace back and felt confident. I had a really nice time in my final, I was able to win and it felt great but unfortunately the boat just didn’t have the pace in the second Final. We had some highs and lows but we had such a great teamwork throughout the weekend, the mechanics were amazing putting the boat back together on Saturday, and we got good points from fourth so we are still leading the championship. It’s not by much and it’s bittersweet as we’d have loved to have been on the podium, but this was the best we could do today."
Sam Coleman, Team Brady Pilot said, “Frustrated at the moment but very happy to be taking the fight to Miami and leading the championship. We had great pace all weekend. We were unlucky with the boat failure in qualifying which threw the weekend off a little bit, but the team did a great job to put it back together and get us on the water. We were fast again at the start of today but somehow the pace disappeared in the last race so we’ll look into that, but all in all,after yesterday’s struggles it’s good to be leaving leading the championship."